Newbie Poster
Hi all, wel this is my first post, and boy am I excited to be making it! Never seen a site like this before and now Im hooked, I LOVE washing machines and Dishwashers, esp the old ones, and guess what Im only 25!!!! LoL
Ok I was reading with interest this thread on washers in the Uk, so thought as Im an English man Id add my pennys worth.
Ok one thing that I dont get is the price difference, here in the UK you buy front loaders dead cheap everyone uses them in England, and its rare to find a top loader other than in the Laundrette, (Laundromat?). In those we do have the maytag mostly washers and dryers.
If we do want a top loader for our homes, there are only a few brands to choose from, being maytag, admiral and Whirlpool. AND THEY COST!!! I mean even the cheapest top loader here is like £400, which is $730!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess thats a lot for a top loader over there? And i dont beleive its import costs either - Its cos us Brits love anything American, so we are charged top dollar to have it, your fridges too are also very expensive here.
Strange cos once we had a lot of top loaders in england, we loved twin tubs, but the change went to front loaders.
The biggest driving force here tho is cost and economy, remember our electricity and water costs a lot more than yours, so lots of development has gone into less energy and water. Also i think in europe there is a general concern for the enviroment, and a lot of people cannot justify the amount of water used, i think its a mentality thing. I mean to me, cos our front loaders are smaller, we have to do like 2 - 3 washer to equal one wash in a 22Lb top loadeer, so in fact the top loader probibly works more efficient than the front loader! ALso this paranoia about the enviroment has led to a real cut back in water use, my current modern front loader dosnt even use a drum full of water, most english machines not just wet the clothes and tumble them about. You do not see the water in the machine like you used too when i was a kid. lot of this is down to European directives that make it illegal to make things here that dont meet guidelines, and i think there was a thing last year to ban top loaders altogether cos of the water they used!!!!! Madness!!!!!!
Hmm its funny to hear you all think our appliances are tiny, I guess they are, everythings small here tho, even a car that we would call family would be a compact to you guys.
Maybe the infra structures different, ie more local shops here, so we tend to buy less food but more often, so hence the small fridges. Hmm making me think now, its an interesting subject.
Mind you our food comes in smaller sizes, we got COSTCO here now, and our ovens just cannot cope with a pizza from there - have to cut them in half to bake!!!! LoL
Oh god look at all I have typed, ok Ill sign off, thanks for reading if you made it this far, Its interesting how laundry can vary from country to country!